Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Tanith Lee passed away this weekend. She was a
great writer- and although I hadn't followed her recent work her earlier stuff
(To Kill the Dead, The Birthgrave, Silver Metal Lover, Lycanitha, and
especially Tales of the Flat Earth) hugely impacted me. In particular I think everyone should read Death's Master. Her books shaped how I saw
the fantastic, what kinds of stories I imagined, and what fiction could be.
There's a set of writers that I hope I can echo for atmosphere when I run. I go
back and re-read them to think about the kinds of elements and details they
use. Tanith Lee has always been high on that mental list.

Also...This is my 991st post. So I'm heading towards 1000. In these last ten posts I hope to do lists and inventories, with some commentary. However posting will be light as I'm prepping for Origins and my Games on Demand sessions as well as awesome guests arriving just before that. I have to pull together possible games for them (so commanded by Sherri). The Post-Apocalyptic lists will return in June! I know I haven't kept up with those, especially with the release of Mad Max: Fury Road. I have the next two in process. Here's a quick list, sans commentary to kick off the race to the millennium.Also- I'll be running at Games on Demand at Origins in the Friday 2PM and Saturday 9AM slots.

10 Game Echo Authors

Here are ten fantasy/sci-fi authors who have impacted me and I think affect how I run and the kinds of atmosphere I want to convey. I don't know if I succeed. Maybe it's hubris to even think that. But if I can echo even a fraction of that, I'd be pleased. I'm not talking about story, but about their tone, atmosphere, and imagery.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Parallel to what I last posted, here's the setting one-sheet for my Neo Shinobi vendetta one-shot. I'm still thinking about how I want to condense the GoA stuff- I'll probably post that next week. This is a little different- this scenario's a great deal more open and freeform, so having this info to reference may be more important. On the other hand, I also want to look closely at the tone for this.

WHAT IS THIS?

In Neo-Kyoto,
Zaibatsu Corporations battle for domination- served by tech-samurai, yogang
yakuza, and deadly ninja. But the secrets of the shinobi long-thought hidden
may shift the balance of power. Think Ninja
Scroll, Brazil, Wu Xing, Appleseed, Cybergeneration, Akira, Lone Wolf and Cub,
and Tenra Bansho Zero.

WHO ARE WE?

Five orders of
Shinobi exist and they have warred since their inception. History speaks of
bloodlines, factions and infighting that lead to this state. The settlement of
the five great Zaibatsu, under the auspices of the Shogun, lead the Shinobi
Orders to also align themselves. Each order tied itself to one of the Megacorp
Zaibatsu. They remain independent but avoid actions against their patrons.

The Shinobi train
in many ways: physical challenges, virtual simulations, stimulus implants, and
experimental engrams. It was through these programs that you and your secret
cadre learned the truth.

By design or
accident a corrupt engram filtered through to a handful of clan members. It
showed that Shinobi were not meant to be the tools of the Zaibatsu. Instead
they had once had their own power, existing at the behest of the Celestial
Emperor, the Mikado. But they had been betrayed. Some clan leaders had
subverted the meaning of Shinobi. They had conspired to ally themselves with
the Zaibatsu-and had rewritten history in the minds of those ninja clans who
did not agree.

This is a game
about the revenge you’re going to take.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

You are expert
trained agents of Shinobi. Each of you has been granted gifts through one of
the six paths of training: Cyberimplants,
handcrafted and passed down; Memetic
Overlay, infusing ninja with the spirits and wisdom of their ancestors; Genocolony, pairing recruits with a
living weapon which can reshape their body; Chi-Field, manipulating the flows
and paths of the world and body; Nanometals,
infusing the shinobi with a swarm of intelligent machines; and Psychics, developing the natural gifts
of the strange among the bloodlines.

We will carry out
our revenge, using the resources of our clan the Igana aka The Shadow Wolves. But we must be
cautious. Only a few among our clan have had their revelation- the rest still
believe the lies. Were they to learn without the proper preparation, they might
reveal it to our allied Zaibatsu, Oyamado.

WHO ARE OUR ENEMIES?

The forces of the
five Zaibatsu- Arasaka, Goda, Jinrai, Shiroma, and Oyamado would oppose us.

The Grand Shogun
Protector and his military may oppose the terror we will bring. We don’t know.

Those at the top
of this conspiracy are our foes: as we learn their identities, they will pay.

WHAT IS THIS WORLD?

The Neo-Kyoto
Metroplex has swallowed dozens of cities and smaller settlements.-It crosses
all environmental zones from the icelands of the far north neighborhoods to the
heat of the tropical south. In the center lies the space elevator, The
Shin-no-Mihashira. From that spin out the uneven masses of districts,
prefectures, and neighborhoods divided and sub-divided. Neo-Kyoto is unevenly
divided and developed: a primitive craft district might be adjacent to a sparkling
high-tech entertainment district. One place might run on steam-pulps and
hissing tubes, while their neighbors bask in VR glories.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

I'll be running a couple of sessions for Games on Demand at Origins (and I hope to play in some). I'll post my schedule when I know it in case anyone's going and wants to say hi. When I've run sessions in the past, I've used a one-page sheet for setting background. You can see the one for "Guards of Abashan" below. In light of my thinking about settings and setting presentation, I've looking at this again to see a) if it's necessary and b) if it is, what can I condense?

WHAT
IS THIS? Welcome to Abashan, a massive sprawling free city at the mouth of a
river valley. Abashan is a crossroads- a meeting point of several empires and
gateway to the Ruined Kingdoms. For touchstones: think Conan with more magic, Lankhmar’s
chaos, or a less grim Thieves’ World.
I keep Pavis and the Big Rubble in
the back of my mind when I run.

WHO
ARE YOU? You like the noise and the colors and the violence of the streets. And
afterward, you like sleeping in the lap of luxury. As a city guard born to
minor nobility, you shouldn’t have to choose. You’ve been working with this
group for a few weeks in a district called the The Dusk Quarter. Most of
your immediate predecessors were hung for abuse of office, despite local
popularity.

WHAT’S
YOUR JOB? Keep the district safe, maintain order, keep the locals from feeling too
abused, and stop bad things from happening. All guard units report to the
ill-tempered Sergeant Audara Delastis. You also have access to an
appointed judge for the district, Bryzantimus.

WHAT’S
THE BEAT? The Dusk Quarter splits into two parts- The Pit and the Pinnacle.
Several decades ago illegal excavation created a massive sinkhole as levels of
the buried city collapsed. Since then stragglers have rebuilt here, creating a
neighborhood called The Pit. Rickety bridges and ramps connect it to the rest
of Abashan, including The Pinnacle, a wealthy neighborhood which withstood the
collapse.

THE
PIT? Over thousands of years the city has built over older versions. Today’s
Abashan stands on the bones of a dozen other Abashans which came before. The
Pit exposes some of those bones. Despite its unseemly nature, this wound has
become a thriving community, attracting refugees...and others. Some come to
hide, some to sneak into under-tunnels searching for treasure, some to escape
scrutiny, some to work in the wall mines. Many jam together into a dangerous
and crowded warren/complex known as The Palace--a mostly intact civic
building of ages past.

WHO’S
GOING TO MAKE THIS HARD? As guards for the Dusk Quarter, you have to deal
with thieves’ guilds, community organizations, and claims of the petty
nobility. You have several groups who are both allies and adversaries. The
Vigilants are local militia intended to help with fire prevention and The
Cloaks are the city military. More importantly two other squads of guards
share authority over the Dusk Quarter with you: The Fifth Swords under
Archon Rhul and Direlond’s Devils under Archon Ninglos.

WHO’S
REALLY IN CHARGE? You’re under contract to Sharl Naleg who in
turn serves Archon Ubmar. The Archons appoint persons, called Sharls, to
oversee neighborhoods: keep order, take in payments, prevent crime from getting
out of hand, and prevent people from blowing the city up. Sharls then contract
from various places to form a guard unit. That’s where you come in.The
Archons command and control Abashan from their towers in the city center. Their
numbers have dwindled in recent decades- five of thirteen towers remain, and
only three are occupied. Archon Ubmar is known for his dedication to the
stability and status quo. Archon Lodosa Rhul has great ambitions- and
hopes to finish the refurbishment of the grand arena within her lifetime. Archon
Ninglos the Seven Teared maintains his (?) privacy for his researches.

WHAT’S
GOING TO MAKE THIS HARDER? Information magics- scrying, translation,
tracing, detections- don’t function in Abashan. This goes for both arcane &
divine magics. It remains unclear how the gods watch over here. Despite this,
Abashan is a hotbed for cults, icons, avatars, faiths, and pantheons. No one
wants to be left out, so they all keep a finger in the pie. All gods are
permitted so long as they do not violate the common laws or work against the
interests of the city.

WHAT
ARE THE PEOPLE LIKE? This world and this city has multiple
peoples- Humans, Elves, Dwarves, etc- but two distinct groups exist for each,
an Elder and a Younger. You can pick out elder peoples by their height and
off-putting alien gravity. They’re fewer and often dislike Younger folk

WHAT
CAN WE DEPEND ON? Despite the desert and steppe outside the wall,
Abashan has a massive system of magical wells, fountains, and sewers. You can
get fresh water most anywhere.

Friday, May 15, 2015

It has been cool to see GMs discuss different approaches to conveying setting to players. I added a large comment to Tuesday’s
post, but I wanted to pull that out and add a couple more thoughts.
This is an important GM question: how to they get a setting across,
when & why is that important, what do you gain/lose by doing it one way?

Aside: One commenter suggested I’d left out “"Let the players
find out through play." I think that’s what I meant by the “Puzzle Piece”
approach, but I could have been clearer about that.

MY PROCESS

In putting together this list, I tried to be relatively neutral.
My approach has shifted over the years. I used to be heavy into writing up backgrounds,
timelines, and pantheons. I sunk hours into gazetteers for different
campaigns. I changed because I began to minimize my prep. Actually, I shifted more because Sherri
pointed out the time I spent on things which didn’t hit the table directly.
I didn’t need to fully flesh those things. A lesson I've learned over and over: “Don’t paint
what you can’t see.”

Let me snapshot the last five years of running and what I’ve
given to the players as the “text” of the game. I’ll leave aside what’s done actually
at the table, except to say that if players suggest things I make an effort to integrate
those. My players know that if they want to go in a new direction, I’m going
to assist them in that.

In the last five or so years, I’ve run twelve campaigns. By that
I mean games lasting 10+ sessions. A couple of other campaigns overlap
into this period, but the bulk of their sessions fall outside 2010 to now.

Of those, we created seven campaigns by via collaboration. In most cases
that meant using Microscope to create the setting. We did single development sessions, usually with I a seed or a starting point (hunts,
refugees). For two of those, we built a city rather than a timeline. I then went
through what we created, organized it, filled in a few missing gaps and then
presented that to the players. In one case, I supplemented that with an additional
info document (23 Things About Abashan). I used that document both as my campaign
prep and player-aid prep. I tried not to do much more campaign building on my side
beyond that. (Also in that case we've used a wiki where players can add items to in
exchange for exp).

For the two non-Microscope collaborations, I used other
structures. In our Legend of the Five Rings campaign, I wrote up a two-paragraph
synopsis of events since the last campaign. The group then worked together
to create a new family for one of the clans, which they would then
play. I built that mostly on John Wick’s Blood & Honor mechanics. The
only other handout was the rules.

For our Superhero campaign, I asked everyone to
pick an existing comics character to do a “Year One” version
of. I used those choices to create the world. I wrote up several different teaser
one-sheets- a couple on the history of supers and the rest covering known NPCs
(heroes, villains, officials). That ended up a little heavier- perhaps 10-12
pages of material. OOH I also used that as my GM prep and didn’t do much campaign
prep work beyond that.

I built four other campaigns myself. For three of them- Star Wars, Scion, Changeling the Lost- I did
nothing in the way of handouts. Most info I conveyed in character creation verbally
or through the CC choices. For Star Wars I simply defined the
canon (original trilogy). In one case I overdid
it. For my wuxia campaign I wrote up a ton of material and dumped that on the players-
over time, but still too much. I like what I wrote, but the game ended early because
of scheduling conflicts—so that was work lost. As well, having that material meant
that the world itself was more convoluted than it could have been.

The last campaign is my multi-genre OCI game. So far we’ve played
through four distinct worlds for about 6-8 sessions each. In one of those we used
Microscope as the basis. For three of those settings, I tried to restrict
myself to a brief pitch, insight through character creation options, and a document
with “23 Things” about the setting. Again, I used those documents as my own GM planning
time, so they weren’t just for the players. (City of Ocean, Neo Shinobi Vendetta, Masks of the Empire). I like this approach because I do some
brainstorming, keep most of the entries tight, and can seed weird stuff for later. The lists also don’t seem to overwhelm the players.

There I'm creating more player material,
but I hope I'm not wasting effort/energy since that's also nearly all my campaign
prep for these games (beside system tweaking). I have a goal now: when doing
campaign planning, I try not to write for my own use. Beyond the set up I restrict
my additional pre-campaign prep to short lists (locations, people, things) and
some sketches about possible incidents & events. In a perfect world
everything else would be for me and the players and wouldn’t be overwhelming.

CHARACTER CREATION

Another approach I missed in my list is setting information
conveyed through the Character Creation process (thanks to everyone who caught
this). Games can use the player’s CC choices to show what exists in the world-
different races, distinct classes, nature of powers like magic. Clever designers can work in additional factoids and details. This
approach can illustrate setting tone: more social options might describe a more
complex world, heavy combat abilities suggest more physical conflict. One commenter
pointed out that equipment lists can even give a feeling of the setting. Traveler’s
restrained projectile weapons say something about that universe vs. the more
out-there lists from Star Wars or Gamma World.

WoD is pretty good for combining setting and character building. The Clans have short,
evocative images and descriptions. Vampire the Masquerade’s set up expands and
develops the simple pitch of playing modern vampires. Some editions of Legend
of the Five Rings do a great job of distilling the background down to the
character choices. The combination of colors and restricted choices make it clear
who the different clans are in the world-and the tension between them. Many
games with complex backgrounds use an “archetype” presentation to explain the
essential choices. Playbooks may be the endpoint of that.

Weapons of the Gods' Loresheets offer another device I’d
forgotten about until someone mentioned it. Loresheets cover details of the
setting: groups, myths, key NPCs, nationalities, philosophies. Players can “buy
into” these stories at the start. This connects them to the setting and invests
them in it. It’s cool how that monetizes the setting. However, at least in the
case of WotG, there’s a ton of text to get through. If players want to make
informed choices, they have to plow through a lot of stuff. There’s a similar
problem in L5R’s ancestor mechanics.

13th Age's Icons mechanics also fall into this category. The game reduces key factions to a set of key figures.
Players then establish their relations to them at the start. The pitch for each can
be done quickly and it invests the players in knowing more.

PUBLISHED SETTINGS

I lumped together homebrew and published settings in my
list. But they have distinct differences- a set canon, great amount
of material, player access, and so on. But the main useful point is that
someone has to be able to grok the setting and then they have to figure out the
best way to get others to grok something about it.

Game books have three different audiences. One, players who
might play in the setting. Two, GMs thinking about seriously running it. Three,
NPRs or "Non-Player Readers" who know they won't actually get this to
the table but are reading the books for entertainment and inspiration over
play. I think each of those audiences has a distinct set of needs. Some
designers consider that- and I’d point to Legend of the Five Rings and early
Shadowrun as great examples of that: a wealth of material, condensed player
summaries for archetypes, and colorful visual design to grab attention.

On the other hand some settings I love as an “NPR” because I
don’t know how to even start to get that across to the players or even get a
handle on for myself. Iron Kingdoms falls into that category for me, as does
Mindjammer and Weapons of the Gods.

And bottom line: some games exist where the players won’t
get the full immersion and experience unless they actually do some reading and
exploring. On the sci-fi side Hans Messersmith suggest Eclipse Phase falls into
this category. The related Transhuman Space as well. For fantasy, Dark Sun and Houses of the Blooded have many
distinct conventions and details. GMs need to recognize that and figure out the
most condensed “homework” for their players. And designers need to figure out
how to best assist them.Suggestions? Additions? What Do the Different Approaches Bring to Your Table?

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

So you’ve got a great setting to run: homebrewed or published. You’ve
crafted pages of material or pored over every supplement. You know
every detail. You can GM the hell out of this world. Now how do you show the players this place?

I’ve tried all kinds of approaches to setting presentation: gazetteers,
hyperlinked web sites, key lists, collaborative design. Recently in L5R I used a trick to explicate spycraft and give a player ownership. That
got me thinking about those many different ways I’ve gone about doing painting the backdrop. That’s changed over time for me and I've shifted techniques to fit the needs of
particular campaigns. Like most GMs I love discovery through play, but know I
have to balance that with set up.

I used to spend days and weeks writing & developing campaign background. And when players didn’t engage with the
material I got irritated. In some cases they didn’t read the handouts. In others they couldn’t absorb the
mass of vomited info. Over time I saw where I wasted effort, producing work which never actually hit the table. I comforted myself with the thought that it added
depth or could be repurposed later. But it rarely turned out that way. Eventually I moved
to doing less. Yet I suspect even my more minimal approaches look overelaborate
to some.

Many published settings overwhlem as well; especially long-running gamelines or one based on other properties. For example, I dig the Iron Kingdoms setting, but it’s massive
and sprawling. If you include Hordes material, it becomes even more
complex. If I wanted to run that, I’d first have to consider how to condense
and explain the peoples, kingdoms, and nature of magic & tech. I dig other
settings presenting similar difficulties: Legend of the Five Rings, Kerberos
Club, Fading Suns, Exalted. It isn’t true for all published worlds. For
example most GUMSHOE settings build on strong and easily pitched
concepts: Mutant City Blues (cops with powers controlling supers), Night’s
Black Agents (spies vs. vampires), Ashen Stars (mercenary space
problem-solvers). Their atmosphere works with a logline and a little backstory.

To figure out gamemaster “Best Practices” for setting
presentation I’ve create a list of approaches. Some overlap, some offer small variations, some skip the setting, some skip the GM. I’m certain this isn’t
complete. So I’m curious about your techniques. What have I missed? When do you
use particular techniques and why? Do you have specific tools that have served
you well? Any and all feedback’s appreciated.

Player Booklets: The classic. The GM prepares a lengthy
synopsis of the setting. This might include a timeline, history, details of the
peoples, etc. In our recent podcast episode show- casing Sam's campaign, he describes creating a
substantial player reference book. Several of the D&D Gazetteers provide
these as well: a distinct player supplement, usually with history and
mechanical options. Part of the trick here is figuring out what the players
need to know and avoiding info dump.

Cut to the Core Book: For published settings, the GM may
allow/request/require players to read the rulebook and the background presented
there. They might limit that to certain chapters or broaden it to assorted
secondary materials and splat books. This gets everyone on the same page. Of course, this brings up the perennial question of "meta-information." How much do the players know versus their character? I've had problems with this in the past. I ran a Changeling the Lost campaign with PCs fresh from the Hedge and new to their existence. One player had studied the core book and assumed he knew everything there. He and I clashed a couple of times on that. In retrospect I should have been clearer about the ground rules regarding that info.

Licensed Source Material: A variation on the above, the GM of
a licensed game uses the original books, comics, or films to convey the
setting. It’s easier to do this with a narrower setting, for example based on a
single book or TV series. It’s more problematic when the material exists in
several mediums. If you’re running The One Ring is it enough to have seen the
movies? Or do the players need to know the lore and have read the trilogy? The
Silmarillion? Or closer to home, what about Star Wars? Which parts are canon? In my campaign I flatly stated only the original trilogy definitely happened.

Sliced Setting: The GM has written material but cuts it down to one narrow segment of the setting. That narrow perspective's used as a starting point to see the world. Chris Handley recently did this for Iron Kingdoms, using an all-Trollkin group to focus presentation. I can imagine an all-Hobbit game for LoTR or an all Cop game for Cyberpunk.

Wikis and Online: A player-booklet variation which uses blogs, wikis, and portal sites to increase accessibility. Information can be added to or modified easily. An encyclopedia approach with
hyperlinks lets players roam through the material. A couple of times I’ve
combined this with a “Weekly Teaser.” Once we’ve established I’m going to run,
I’ll post entries and articles in the run-up to the campaign. For my Exalted
campaign, this allowed me to make a rich setting without overwhelming players. Alternately, if a game has an existing independent wiki, the GM can direct them to
that. However this isn’t a great solution since that info’s often chaotic and
potentially filled with spoilers.

One-Sheet Summaries: The GM reduces everything they think the player needs to know to a single page. This could be a single global summary or a set of
sheets tailored to each character. This seems like a good idea for conventions, but it does eat up time. Players will always go through these sheets at the table and
lose focus on what you’re saying. The alternative is to wait and sit in silence while discovering the different reading speeds of your group.

What My Father Told Me: A specific form of one-sheet created for Glorantha. It focuses on a single culture, clan, or peoples. It’s a
great tool because it nicely covers a character's typical upbringing. Their
experience may differ, but they at least know the baseline. I’ve used this in a
couple of ways. On the one hand, I’ve presented it as a set of choices for
players. That does make for a chunk of material for players to skim before play
begins. On the other hand in the Last Fleet campaign, players selected their
characters' origins and then I had them write up a WMFTM sheet for that. That
gave them expertise and control.

Player-Facing Materials: A variation on some of these
approaches, in particular player booklets. This provides information fully from the
character's point of view: documents, letters, overheard conversations. The WMFTM
above takes this approach. City of Lies remains my favorite example of this. It
provides a document describing the city of Ryoko Owari for incoming Magistrates.
Many characters aren’t named which offers a mystery; some of the information’s
noted as outdated; and references come from several sources- including a couple
of uncertain reliability. Beyond that the set contains a completely separate
journal which serves as a plot-moving discovery.

Player-Facing Materials “Meta”: Another kind of player-facing
material combines setting explanation and player control. Plot and story
choices merge with description. For example, the Kaiin Player’s Guidefor DERPG describes the neighborhoods as well as events happening there. Players, rather than the GM, can choose what to engage with and make the session's story. Cairn does a similar thing, built around
the notable NPCs of the setting. I emulated that with my L5R Spymaster
write-up. Rumor sheets, as used in Geanavue:
The Stones of Peace, also use this. This approach assumes the characters
have deeper knowledge than their players. It works to make the feel they have
that mastery.

Unimportant to the Play: The setting/backstory’s unimportant to
play. A one shot might focus purely on the interaction of the players. You
could be simply dungeon-crawling. Or perhaps you operate in a setting with
established common details, like a 1920’s Call
of Cthulhu game where the players interact with a generic “society.”

Puzzle Piece: A little bit like the above, but there’s a
setting and it may have impact on choices. For example a Hex-Crawl where the
players discover facts as they move from section to section. This might be
pre-defined or rolled randomly by the GM. The actual background and what it
means emerges through play. In a sense the setting’s unimportant during
character creation, but becomes a factor through exploration.

You Already Know: They players have played in the setting
before. They earned their knowledge through previous play. Alternately could
apply to games set in a shared real world city.

Aspects: Instead of defining specifics of a place or setting,
you define it via catchphrases or short descriptors. Fate leans heavily on
this. Cities, peoples, neighborhoods could all be defined in this way. “Wrong
Side of the Tracks,” “Sense of Hopelessness,” “Heavily Patrolled” for example
set up a tone. For an even more short-hand approach, areas might be defined
numerically. Ratings in different aspects provide the players baseline info.

Q&A: Each session, the GM assigns one or more players to
choose a topic they want to hear more about. The GM then prepares that
information for the next session. This can be used to flesh out plot points,
clarify backgrounds, and connect to current or future plot points. The GM can
tune the number of responses to their schedule (everyone gets a request, the
petitioner varies from session to session).

Collaborative Creation: Players and GM work together to build the setting. Microscope can be used for this, and Questlandia and Fate include
this as a key mechanic. Participants shape the world to their interests. It
generates new ideas as they bounce concepts around. Importantly all players
begin with the same level of knowledge about the setting. Rather than passively reading or being read to, the players
actively participate and invest in the setting. It promotes expertise and mastery. This process has a couple of
drawbacks. For example, how to handle a collaboratively created campaign where
new players join later? It also requires a GM who is willing to build and
play with material they didn’t generate.

Collaborative Authority: Rather than or in addition to pre-game development,
the GM asks players to define ideas during play. For example, if someone wants to
encounter a non-human, the GM asks the player(s) what kind there are in the
world. Questlandia uses a variation of this. It has the group collaboratively
define the setting. But important locations, issues, and aspects developed are then
parceled out to the players. They gain the final say on those points. When a
related question comes up, the group turns to that authority.

Structured Collaboration: The setting’s fleshed out collaboratively, but based on an existing structure. For example Kingdom comes with some set frames.
These spell out the general picture, but then the group walks through and makes
selections from a menu about the details and problems facing them. DramaSystem
takes a similar but looser approach where players have a pitch and then work
through questions to flesh it out.

Mediated Collaboration: In this version, the setting and
information indirectly comes from the player choices. Players create their
characters and fill in details. The GM uses this on-the-fly to create the
backdrop. This ties elements the players have selected to the game at hand.
Spelling out the setting and communicating that to the players still rests in
the GM’s hands. Dungeon World, for example, takes this approach.

Again, what’s missing? When do you use a specific technique
and how does that serve the game? What devices have you used for this? What's your experience with the relative strengths or weaknesses of these?

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

We're been playing our homebrew Legend of the Five Rings game for a couple of years now. It's a collaboratively-built, season action-based campaign. Because of that and how we've played L5R in the past, it veers away from the core setting canon. I suspect my game looks more like a conventional fantasy game with samurai trappings than most. But as they say, "Your Rokugan May Vary." A few sessions ago, our spy master (Oniwaban) spent her seasonal action to map out the various dangerous factions. She put all of her persons and resources to that end and had a remarkable series of pulls. I've been trying to figure out how to present that information in a useful and non-info dump way. Recently I picked up a copy of Cairn in a Math Trade. It has a neat device of player-facing plot points associated with the well known NPCs of the setting. I loved that in the Kaiin Player's Guide. So I tried to do something like that with this material. I'm working on another post more broadly looking at pushing setting. Below is what I gave Kuni Setsu's player. These are open-ended plot points-- static until the player decides to investigate them or bring them into her work. FACTIONS IN THE LANDS OF THE SHIMSAU

The Scorpion Ring

While the
Scorpion have a presence here, it is unlikely that what’s visible is all that
exists. In fact, that visible part may well be a distraction from
other, more dangerous agents and plots. Or not. As you know that the incidents of
several years ago left the Scorpion scattered and uncertain. The major Scorpion
agent in the area, Bayushi Haruhisa died at the hands of an unknown assailant
shortly before the Emperor formalized the Dragon Clan’s control.

The Scorpion
Clan trade representative, Sosuro Chiyo, moved
up in rank at that time, but did not apparently gain control of the Scorpion network. Who
did remains a mystery- but it does not appear to be either of the major
Scorpion figures more lately arrived. We have detected connections
to several merchants, ties of patronage, and perhaps blackmail. As well, as
previously established, one of the major gangs in the capital operates at the
behest of Scorpion handlers. Whatever the nature of the Scorpion agents
operating here, they seem to be split from the trade interests coming out of
Ryoko Owari (mentioned later).

An
artisan, long suspected of being a secret dupe of the Scorpion organization,
recently fled the capitol under cover of darkness.

There has
been tension and in-fighting between the gangs servicing the opium trade. So
far the Scorpion network oddly has not intervened.

On a few occasions, figures have been seen working in teams in the northern woods- often
spotted with masks. They have vanished before being engaged by our patrols.
However, there’s a pattern to their appearances as they’ve shown up near old
shrines established by the Kitsu here when the Lion held these lands.

An
intercepted communication suggests that the Scorpion have managed to place a
servant within Governor Doji Yasumori’s household.

A master
of “medicines” associated with the Scorpion Clan died while travelling through
the region, apparently of a stomach malady. However his travel satchel and “herbal”
supplies went missing and the Scorpions appear to be hunting for it.

The Unicorn Pathfinders

The
Unicorn have had extensive trade contacts through this area for some time. However, it has
become increasingly clear that several locations serve as major hub point for
Unicorn agents moving out into the rest of the Empire. In particular several
traveler inns, hostels, and similar locations serve as cover for these
operations. That seems to be restrained in the capitol, Maru Katei. Instead their network operates in the hinterlands, especially the northern forests and the
mountains of the West and East. Our Master of Scouts, Toritaka Ataru, has found
several hidden trails that may be tied to these, rather than the Lion Clan
infiltrators.

Scouts
have discovered a strange trail in the Eastern mountains. It seems to head off
into inaccessible territory.

A crafter
under Unicorn patronage recently closed up shop and set out to relocate to the
village on the border of the non-human Monkey lands.

Scouts
followed a set of trails which might be tied to the Unicorn network. They came
across a ronin who managed to give them the slip in the woods. Their
description closely matches Itsura, Ogawa’s former sensei.

The
Unicorn agents have been agitated and hunt for a Moto who fled here. Given
that no word of this has come through official channels, something odd must be
involved.

One of
the few persons we’ve directly associated with the Unicorn suddenly gave up his
position and fled to the Suru Ishi monastery. It is clear the Unicorn will not
welcome this defection.

Merchants’ Cabal

Even before
the time of the Three Armies, the Lion Clan had dealt loosely with the
merchants of the region. They provided necessary services and helped keep the
rich farmlands of the area running efficiently. The merchants kept their head down and operated as connections between villages. Practicality
mattered more to the Lion samurai than other details- though from time to time
they cut down someone breaking tradition as a demonstration of the order of the
world.

As the
battles became more desperate in the area, several merchant groupings worked to
cement stability for themselves. They worked quietly- servicing some black
market needs- but more importantly taking advantage of want and lack of
authority in villages and towns to gain goods, concessions, and future favors.
Control by the Dragon Clan gave them even more space to operate. The morel
hands-off policy of the Dragon towards the underclass increased their space to
operate. Where other clans with stronger trade connections (Unicorn, Scorpion)
might move to occupy or control those spheres, the Shimasu and Dragon have not.

The
merchants have one major nemesis among the Dragon Clan, Kitsugi O-Mugi, the
Mistress of Taxes. They have quietly offered a bounty to anyone who can provide
damming information regarding her.

The
Merchants seem to be heavily supporting the Gambaru sumotai school. They have
put pressure on the Shotosu school to close.

An old
and respected sake brewery in the West region has apparently defied entreaties from
the Merchant Cabal. It is likely they will retaliate.

The
Merchants may have a traitor in their midst. At least two recent shipments
intended to evade Imperial scrutiny ended up attacked by Sanada and his men.

One of
the senior members of the Merchant cabal has secretly been running up large
gambling debts. He gambles in many different places to keep this quiet.

The Lion Conspiracy

The Lion
have had to rebuild their regional contacts and connections. They clearly believed that any set-backs would be temporary, hence their reliance on
infiltrators over more conventional agents. While they engaged in sabotage
early on, that has trailed off. Instead we believe that most have returned to
the Lion or gone for deep infiltration. The Lion have had to trade off
long-running ties of loyalty against not being prepared for this. While you’ve
long suspected that “Uncle” Ikoma Daihachi has acts as a
spymaster or organizer of the Lion network, it remains difficult to confirm.
Particularly over the last year, he’s become even more cautious after his
unreported attack.

A murder
of a merchant in a simple, distant village comes through the Magistrate’s letters.
What striking is the mention of that merchant having come into possession of a
scroll case matching those you’ve found in other Lion caches.

One of
the younger samurai in the Eastern province has been given permission to marry
a local from a ji-samurai family. However, her groom may be tied to the Lion
agents through his father.

Several
suspected Lion agents, including a Kitsu shugenja were found in the Eastern
mountains. Their wounds match your recollection of the weapons of the Tsuno.

Matsu
Gorosada recently requested travel papers for a member of his clan. Intercepted
information suggests this person is a liaison for Lion agents in our region.

The
medicine which recently saved the daimyo of the neighboring Mirumoto family
seems to have come through the Lion network.

House of the Ruby Cricket

While
small-scale smuggling has always been a problem, it tends to be scattered. Many
assume larger smuggling operations have behind-the-scenes control from the Great Clans.
In this area, much of that flows through Ryoko Owari. However at least one
smuggling operation exists in our lands outside of direct Clan control. While
members of various high families seem to be tied into it, The House of the Ruby
Cricket exists as an independent operation for the moment.

How long
that’s been the case remains uncertain. The group seems to have arisen from the
consolidation of several smaller networks. They operate through this region
with connections to the Crab, Unicorn, Lion, and Phoenix lands. More notably,
they apparently smuggle goods into and out of the Dragon Clan homelands and
beyond. As a criminal organization, they might rightly fall under the jurisdiction
of the Magistrate. However the House has an extensive network and they clearly
put an emphasis on contacts and information gathering.

Rumor has
it that some of your Suguremashita Iron has become available via the Ruby
Cricket.

A pair of
travelers who may be Yobanjin have been spotted in the region. How they’ve made
it through the road wardens remains a mystery, but they seem to be pursuing
someone from the House of the Ruby Cricket.

The Ruby
Cricket have apparently been moving some gaijin items in recent months, to the
chagrin of Unicorn smugglers.

A known
agent of the Ruby Cricket had an odd reaction when he found himself in the same
shop as swordmaster Anbu Utamaru, seeking to escape before being spotted.

A courtesan
in the Silver Drop “Tea House” has been bragging that two important agents in
the House of the Ruby Cricket have been vying for his affections.

Mikoto’s Breath

The number
of ronin has increased steadily in Rokugan over the last several decades.
Shifts in power, destruction of minor clans, internal dissension, and the
exposure of criminal conspiracies all contributed. Many ronin swept into this
area during the Time of the Three Armies. The sudden halt to the conflict left
them without patrons or coin. The recent destruction of a ronin force in Crane
lands has intensified the problem. Some have quietly called for an organized
campaign against them, but such a war would bring little honor. Despite their
shared interests, most ronin remain scattered and easily set at one another in
pursuit of a pittance.

However we
believe a network for some ronin exists in the region. How they’re organized
and recruited remains uncertain. They operate outside of the other groups
mentioned. We strongly suspect they have at least one settlement in the area
and may have support from among the clans. Three factors make this group more
dangerous. First, their name has been tied to the death of several skilled
swordsmen. If they are assassins, they do not use the typical ronin ambush and
overwhelm approach. Second, they may have shugenja among their number, but they
work carefully to keep that hidden. We do not believe they use Bloodspeaker
magic, but the nature is unclear. Three, we believe they have some knowledge
and commerce with the yokai.

A
shugenja bearing the marks and appearance of the Phoenix has appeared a couple
of times in the last year in the South. Calling himself Isawa Gobenmaru,
conversations with the Clan rep in Maru Katei suggest they have either never
heard of him or have disowned him.

The
recent killing of a retired Dragonfly samurai in the North has raised tensions
and signs suggest the involvement of Mikoto’s Breath.

The Soshi
are said to be hunting a particular ronin warrior who has joined with Mikoto’s
Breath.

Chibaru
let slip that he was targeted for recruitment by Mikoto’s Breath but turned
them down.

A legendary
ronin assassin named Kobukodo is said to be coming to join Mikoto’s Breath to
serve as a trainer.

The White Cage

A criminal
underground network operating in these northern lands. Usually conventional
criminal groups remain restricted to a city or smaller location. Those
operating over larger areas usually gain the attention and enmity of clan
operatives. How and why the White Cage has survived remains uncertain. They’ve
existed long enough to have their own rites and rituals, as well as a strong
code of loyalty. They have strong contacts with banditry- not acting as bandits
themselves, but instead as intermediaries. Through their network they’ve also
been known to hire out to various daimyos as scouts to count forces and assess
strengths. Rumor has it that they have some support and connection to some of
the more worldly elements of the Brotherhood. It may be that they’ve gathered
up some members who have left the order or belong to broken temples. One rumor
suggests they have knowledge of the Zokujin and trade with the Nezumi.

Bayushi
Kenzo, the Emerald Magistrate, may be interested in The White Cage. He captured
someone who may be involved and seems to be readying to move them out of the
city quietly.

Another
location, said to have markings of the Trolls, was found ransacked. The unlocking
of the site suggests Zokuijin involvement.

Agents of
the White Cage kidnapped both a Doctor and an Herbalist in the Southern region.

Information from our “special allies” suggests that in several places, the
White Cage has been using Zokujin to keep old, abandoned shires and other sites
unoccupied.

A senior
person of the White Cage crossed Sanada recently. He’s now a persona-non-grata
and on the run.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Though we didn’t plan it during recording, we managed to have a
Star Wars-themed episode for May the Fourth. In it we discuss our experiences with different iterations of Star Wars rpgs. Spoiler:
Until the week before, I hadn’t actually played any of published Star Wars rpg. We try to get at what makes a strong Star Wars system & a
strong Star Wars campaign. We knock around the question of canon and player knowledge to figure out what works at the table. As a bonus we're releasing a set of
extra episodes today. Andrew ran a demo session of Edge of the Empire for us. If you dig Actual Play you can check out the audio here (broken
into three parts) and you can see the session video here.

I’m old enough to remember standing in line for Star Wars opening weekend. I also recall not wanting to go at all. I’d seen the
previews and the flash of the Tuskan Raider terrified me. I relented of course loved it, even though I covered my face every time Luke got attacked. Every time I watched it. I got the pre-order of the action figures that Christmas: the waiting was a killer. When my dad
went to England to teach there, I made him take me to a tiny London cinema to watch double feature of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. I
remember how exhausted and exasperated he looked afterwards.

The Star Wars rpg always did well at the game store I worked at. Those sold and sold- certainly more than anything else West End Games put out (Paranoia, TORG, Masterbook).
We did hand-written inventory management, so you’d have to check every couple
of weeks to see if anything had fallen through the cracks.

Among the many players I gamed with over the almost thirty years of Star Wars rpgs available, I only remember one person who actively collected and ran it. I bought some of
the WEG supplements, thinking I might do something with it but I never did. Even
the die-hard Star Wars fans in our group never bought or followed the rpgs. I’m
not sure why. Sci-fi- outside of cyberpunk- never grabbed players' attention, even stuff as fantastical as SW.

On the other hand many of those same gamers loved the Star Wars video and PC games. Why didn’t translate into a desire to play that on the
tabletop? I know many ripped through Dark Forces, Star Wars Battlefront, Knights of the
Old Republic, and even the first Star Wars MMO.

Has "May the Fourth" always been a thing? I
honestly didn’t notice it until last year.

As I mentioned in the podcast, I've run Star Wars once, but with a homebrew. I had a great time and intended the short arc to be
the first "movie" in a trilogy. However players’ schedules shifted after that and
I’m reluctant to run the second part with some missing. You can see how I prepped that and my post-mortem of the play here.

I don’t think I’d really play Star Wars: Imperial
Assault, but I kind of want to buy it for the figures. They’re really nice. They’d
be great for doing a tabletop rpg. But that way lies madness. I
might start thinking “well, maybe I need to buy models to simulate the
space battles…” and then suddenly I’ve wasted even more money I don’t have on
X-Wing or Star Wars: Armada. I need to stick with using vaguely sci-fi'ish
HeroClix and my weird partial collection of Starfleet Wars ships from the late
70’s.

If you like RPG Gaming podcasts, I hope you'll check it out.
We take a focused approach- tackling a single topic each episode. You can
subscribe to the show on iTunes or follow the podcast's page at www.playontarget.com.